Blog Details
Newsletter – October 2024
It was heartening to see what Sr Lucy and her social workers are doing, and to see thriving children, safe women and men…
Ann and her colleague Melissa just returned from their first visit to Maher. Both are members of their local Rotary Clubs (one in New Hampshire, the other in California). They both traveled to India for a medical mission. Ann had learned about Maher a few months earlier and wanted to see their work for herself with an eye to developing a grant from her NH Rotary, coordinated with local Pune Rotary, in support of Maher’s work. USGM worked to coordinate with Maher and multiple Rotary groups.
(Ann and Melissa with Sr Lucy, Hira, Zumbar, and the boys of one Maher Home.)
In Ann’s words (lightly edited/condensed):
The next part of my trip was visiting a shelter program, called Maher, run by Sister Lucy who should be given sainthood. This is a program I learned about from Linda and Darcy Cunningham, longtime supporters of Maher. I will be writing an international global grant, hopefully getting them substantial amounts of rupees in concert with other Rotary clubs in both India and the US which will help sustain one of the many Maher programs Sr. Lucy has put together for children and adults who would otherwise remain illiterate and very poor and un-abled as a result.
I got to see parts of India rarely seen by tourists…slum villages, tribal villages, beggar villages…some so poor that they literally have nothing…no electricity, no water… none… huts made from scraps. They only have roofs because sister Lucy got the whole village tarps so that in the monsoon they weren’t rained on! It was beastly hot and they had no potable water. While we were there, she very quietly gave someone some money and they returned with large containers of water like we would have on our bubblers…but that was of course a drop in the bucket, so to speak. She needs to find a way to help them purchase land so they can stop squatting, so they can have a well dug…and on and on…
Maher has around 68 projects and shelters going all over India…she scrapes money together and trains people who then run these program many days away from her headquarters in other states of India. Her order doesn’t even help her with money because she will not teach Catholicism and give out bibles…she says God is love and all religions are one!!! All people are one…no caste differences allowed in her programs. My kind of gal!
It was heartening to see what she and her social workers are doing and to see thriving children, safe women, and men…many who are seriously mentally ill, sick, or mentally disabled…she finds them on the streets, cleans them, dresses and feeds them, and houses them, teaches them to make items to sell if they are capable, or simply are taken care of lovingly and gently until they die with dignity. She is a strong education advocate and I met several young men and women for whom she has found ways to pay for college. Two of the young men I met have MBAs and have returned to her program to work.
This is a very exciting partnership process for USGM with Maher and Rotary. There are several Pune area Rotary clubs who have all worked with and supported Maher over the years. And of course there are Rotary clubs all over the US, most/all of whom do international work! It’s one more way to see that Maher has the funds needed to continue their work.
Did you know that setting up a monthly donation via USGM’s donation page at Givevbutter really helps Maher have a steady flow of income? It’s super easy to set up. You can customize the fees too instead of simply defaulting to the suggested tip (though it does help to cover credit card fees).